APS, a non-profit membership organization, works to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through research journals, scientific meetings, education, outreach, advocacy and international activities. Ten fellows is the highest number of recipients LLNL has garnered in a single year. In the past 30 years, nearly 100 LLNL employees have been elected APS fellows.

The clue: This famous square mile is where you will discover the "Science of Security."

The answer: What is Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory?

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was featured in an entire category of clues on the TV game show "Jeopardy!," Monday, March 9. Called the "Science of Security," the category featured basic science questions that tie into LLNL facilities and programs, among them laser science and the National Ignition Facility, high performance computing and Sequoia, astrophysics and the GeMINI planet imager, satellite technology and LLNL’s work to track them for traffic control and breakthroughs in nanotechnology.

The LLNL category took place during the double jeopardy round. To test your knowledge of LLNL, click here.

More than 400 girls, grades six to nine, attended the recent Tri-Valley Expanding Your Horizons Conference on the Las Positas College campus in California. Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was a sponsor of the 37th annual event. The conference seeks to inspire girls to recognize their potential and pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

At this year's conference, “A Window into Your Future,” girls participated in group activities along with 90-minute hands-on workshops in chemistry, biotechnology, computer science, engineering, environmental science and robotics. There also was a career fair for participants and a program for parents on college planning, California university and state college academic requirements, transferring from community college to a four-year university and financial aid.

More than 100 volunteers from Lawrence Livermore, Sandia National Laboratories/California, Las Positas College and the American Association of University Women helped to coordinate the conference.

This weekend, students from the Rio Arriba, Los Alamos, Santa Fe, Mora, San Miguel, Sandoval and Taos Counties will come together to participate in the 2nd annual Robowave Rally. The event, being held on Saturday, March 7th at the Northern New Mexico Community College, will consist of students working in teams to compete in robotic challenges ranging from beginner to advanced levels.

The event is not only an excellent opportunity for the participants to utilize teamwork and critical thinking skills, but also serves to expose them science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM fields) at an early age.

The rally is also being used as a practice day for the upcoming 13th annual Robowave International, New Mexico’s largest K-16 robotics competition, being held April 30th to May 2nd.

The Robowave Rally Northern New Mexico is supported by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Security, LLC, Northern New Mexico University and a number of other partners.

The Northwest Career and Technical Academy’s Science Bowl Team had the distinct honor of meeting with members of the Las Vegas City Council yesterday, in recognition of their winning the annual 2015 Nevada Science Bowl on January 30, 2015.

The Nevada Science Bowl is the premier academic competition in the region. NNSA’s Nevada Site Office is the signature sponsor of Nevada Science Bowl. Nevada Science Bowl also receives donations from Northrop-Grumman, National Security Technology (NSTec), Navarro-Intera, Centerra, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Atomic Testing Museum and VegasPBS.

More than 2,000 middle school students near the Savannah River Site area recently put their engineering skills to the test during National Engineers week.

Science- and engineering-based demonstrations involving lasers, flying objects, dry ice and robotic creatures were introduced to students by employees from Savannah River Site management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS).

Known as “Teach-Ins,” 90 demonstrations were conducted by more than 40 SRNS engineers, scientists and technicians at 19 area middle schools with 7th grade students over a two-week period.

Teach-Ins have proven to be instrumental towards promoting the importance of a high level of math, science and technology literacy. SRNS volunteers provide interactive demonstrations and informative discussions to give students a broader understanding of the field of engineering.

Middle schools in seven nearby South Carolina and Georgia counties have participated in this outreach program managed and sponsored by SRNS since 2008. During this time period, more than 12,000 students from this region have benefited from the creative work and hours of effort provided by hundreds of enthusiastic Teach-In volunteers.

Happy Anniversary! This week, we at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) celebrate the stand-up of our agency.

Congress established NNSA in 2000 as a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy to manage and ensure the security of the Nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, advance nuclear nonproliferation, and provide critical support to the Nuclear Navy. Much has happened in the last 15 years. Our mission has evolved to address our changing world. Managing the weapons stockpile without underground weapons testing is only one of many NNSA remarkable achievements.

You should be proud to be a part of this vital organization. Each and every day, you and others across the national nuclear security enterprise play a critical role in enhancing America’s security, reducing nuclear dangers, and advancing scientific discovery. Without your strong commitment to NNSA meeting its critical missions, the national security of the United States would not be as strong as it is today.

We have a busy year ahead of us. This week, we begin a series of Congressional hearings on our budget request for fiscal year 2016. This year’s request reflects the high priority the Administration places on all of programs, with a proposed 10.2 percent increase across the board and proposed increases in all four of our major appropriations categories.

The next 15 years promises to be as eventful as the last were. Going forward, NNSA will continue to meet the needs of the Nation, while ensuring we are being effective and efficient stewards of the taxpayers’ money.

Thank you for everything you do on behalf of the American people. Happy Anniversary!

NNSA has completed a major capital improvement project that has resulted in critical infrastructure upgrades to two key production buildings at the Y-12 National Security Complex. NNSA finished the $75.7 million project nearly 11 months ahead of the construction completion schedule and approximately $5.6 million under budget.

The Nuclear Facilities Risk Reduction project included upgrades to mechanical, electrical, ventilation, and heating/cooling systems for enriched uranium operations in Buildings 9212 and 9204-2E. The project began in 2008, when 10 tasks were identified to make those facilities safer for operations. The project was originally scheduled for completion in 2016.

About the photo:At Building 9212, NNSA combined stacks 110 and 43, eliminating use of one exhaust stack. Further improvements on the project include replacing the old bag filtration system with a new cartridge dust collector. Photo courtesy of Y-12.

Nine Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have been named fellows of the American Physical Society, an honor that indicates recognition by scientific peers of exceptional contributions to physics.

APS, a non-profit membership organization, works to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through research journals, scientific meetings, education, outreach, advocacy and international activities.

Staff at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories welcomed the first hardware delivery for NNSA’s next generation supercomputer, called Trinity. Test beds for Trinity were delivered (two to Los Alamos and one to Sandia) as part of the New Mexico Alliance for Computing at Extreme Scale (ACES) collaboration.

Trinity came out of a partnership between the two laboratories, Cray Computers and Intel. The computer will have at least eight times greater applications performance than Cielo, the current NNSA supercomputer sited at Los Alamos and will be one of the most advanced computers in the world. Trinity will be sized to run the largest and most demanding simulations of stockpile stewardship, assuring the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear deterrent without the use of underground testing.